Jos Buttler Released by Rajasthan Royals for 2025 IPL Season

England’s white-ball captain, Jos Buttler, who has participated in 107 Indian Premier League matches, will not be returning to Rajasthan Royals for the 2025 season, as the franchise has chosen not to retain him. Buttler, aged 34, joined Rajasthan in 2018, but the team decided against keeping him prior to the upcoming Mega Auction. IPL regulations permit teams to retain a maximum of six players from their 2024 squad, with a limit of five international capped players. This means no England players have been retained by any franchise, making individuals such as Phil Salt, Sam Curran – who secured a then-IPL record of £1.85m in 2023 – Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow, and Jofra Archer potential participants in the auction. Additionally, Australian seamer Mitchell Starc, who set a record as the IPL’s most expensive player in the 2024 season after Kolkata Knight Riders acquired him for 24.75 crore Indian rupees (£2.3m), has also not been retained. South African wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen holds the highest retention value, having been kept by Sunrisers Hyderabad for 23 crore Indian rupees (£2.1m). Klaasen is one of ten international players retained, a group that also includes Australian captain Pat Cummins and batter Travis Head (both with Sunrisers Hyderabad), Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan (Gujarat Titans), and West Indies players Nicholas Pooran (Lucknow Super Giants) and Andre Russell (Kolkata Knight Riders). Prominent Indian players such as Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma (both Mumbai Indians), Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), and Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai Super Kings) are also among those retained. Conversely, several key Indian players will be entering the draft, including KL Rahul (Lucknow Super Giants), Rishabh Pant (Delhi Capitals), Ravichandran Ashwin (Rajasthan Royals), and Mohammed Siraj (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), who have all been released. Overseas players not retained include Australians Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), along with South Africans Anrich Nortje (Delhi Capitals), David Miller (Gujarat Titans), and Quinton de Kock (Lucknow Super Giants). MS Dhoni, 43, is set to rejoin Chennai Super Kings, having been signed as an uncapped player. This follows a recent rule alteration that designates any player who has not participated in international cricket for five years as uncapped. Teams that have not used all six of their allowed retentions will receive Right-to-Match cards for the Mega Auction, which could still lead to some players being retained. Nevertheless, Buttler will not be returning to the Royals, nor Starc to the Knight Riders, as both franchises have already retained their maximum of six players. Players face a decision regarding their participation in the auction, needing to consider their international commitments, as the IPL has implemented a two-year ban for individuals who withdraw from the tournament without fulfilling specific criteria. While the exact dates for the auction remain unconfirmed, it is anticipated to occur over two days in late November. The schedule for the tournament itself is also pending release, though it typically runs during April and May. The retained players for each franchise are as follows: Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Matheesha Pathirana, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni. Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel. Gujarat Titans: Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan. Kolkata Knight Riders: Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh. Lucknow Super Giants: Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni. Mumbai Indians: Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma. Punjab Kings: Shashank Singh, Prabhsimran Singh. Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma. Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Yash Dayal. Sunrisers Hyderabad: Heinrich Klaasen, Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Nitish Kumar Reddy.